Influence of linear tension on the rate of heterogeneous nucleation at ultrasmall particles

The kinetics of solid-phase nucleation at an ultrasmall symmetric spherical particle is considered. The influence of the particle size and linear tens ion on the limiting angle, free energy, and rate of heterogeneous nucleatio n is investigated. For particles of radius 0.1-0.01 Gem, increasing the siz e of the nucleus shifts the boundary of the metastability region to higher temperatures. This shift, of around 20-30%, is mainly due to linear-tension forces. These forces significantly alter the cosine of the limiting angle, in direct proportion to the radius of curvature of the growing nucleus.